MODE AS A GUIDE TO COMPOSITION

Chapter:

CHAPTER 3 Retheorizing Music

Source:

MUSIC FROM THE EARLIEST NOTATIONS TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

Author(s):

Richard Taruskin

What a difference we will observe when we look at melodies written after the Frankish chant theory had been formulated! For
that theory, modest in its intention, was huge in its effect. While it may have begun as a way of improving the efficiency
with which a body of ancient music was mastered and memorized, it quickly metamorphosed into a guide to new composition, achieving
a significance its early exponents may never have envisioned for it. >From a description of existing music it became a prescription
for the music of the future.